Miscellaneous unorganized material/WOWK-TV
WOWK-TV is the CBS-affiliated television station for the Tri-States and Kanawha Valley area of West Virginia that is licensed to Huntington which is the second largest market (in terms of area) east of the Mississippi River. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on VHF channel 13 from a transmitter northwest of Milton. Due to the nature of VHF signals, this cannot be seen in the Kanawha Valley or Charleston. However, WOWK is offered on Comcast channel 12 and high definition on digital channel 782 (in Huntington) as well as Suddenlink channel 13 and in high definition on digital channel 782 (in Charleston). Owned by West Virginia Media Holdings, it is the flagship of the company and has studios on 5th Avenue in Downtown Huntington and secondary facilities on Kanawha Boulevard (U.S. 60) in Charleston along I-64/U.S. 119. Syndicated programming on WOWK includes: Inside Edition, Dr. Phil, The Doctors, and Rachael Ray. // if (window.showTocToggle) { var tocShowText = "show"; var tocHideText = "hide"; showTocToggle(); } // http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=WOWK-TV&action=edit&section=1 edit Digital programming The station's digital channel is multiplexed. http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=WOWK-TV&action=edit&section=2 edit History The station went on-air October 2, 1955 as WHTN-TV (for H'un'T'ingto'N) an ABC affiliate owned by the Greater Huntington Theater Corporation. After only a year, it was bought by Cowles Communications. WHTN swapped affiliations with WCHS-TV and became a CBS station for the first time in 1958. It went back to ABC in 1962 and stayed with that network for 24 years. Cowles sold the station to Gateway Communications in 1974. A year later, it changed its call letters to the current WOWK-TV to reflect the three states it serves (O'hio, '''W'est Virginia, and 'K'entucky). In 1986, it changed affiliations again returning to CBS. The station was headquartered at the Radio Center Building in Huntington from its inception until 1984 when WOWK moved to its current location on Fifth Avenue. Gateway merged with SJL Broadcasting in 2000. SJL sold it to West Virginia Media Holdings in 2002. WOWK-TV ended analog operations on VHF channel 13 in 2009, as part of the DTV transition in the United States. The station had been broadcasting a digital signal on channel 47, but it returned to channel 13 for its post-transition operations. [1] On January 25, 2009, an ice storm destroyed the temporary UHF channel 47 digital transmitter. Rather than repair it for two more weeks of service, the station shut down its analog transmission early and brought its digital 13 transmitter on-line. Under federal must-carry rules, broadcasters can either allow cable systems in their market to carry their signals for free or charge a fee under retransmission consent provisions. On December 3, 2008, it was announced that Inter Mountain Cable (IMC), a cable provider serving parts of Eastern Kentucky, announced that it would drop WOWK from its lineup unless an agreement was reached over retransmission consent. [2] According to The Mountain Eagle, this dispute caused concern among officials in the city of Fleming-Neon, Kentucky where IMC holds the cable television franchise. [3] The city council in Fleming-Neon have stated that the removal of WOWK will violate IMC's franchise agreement. [3] http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=WOWK-TV&action=edit&section=3 edit News operation This station's newscasts have long rated third in the market behind NBC affiliate WSAZ-TV and ABC affiliate WCHS. For a time in the 1990s, it was the highest-rated station in the northern portion of the market (Charleston and Kanawha Valley). Unlike most CBS affiliates in the Eastern Time Zone, WOWK does not air local news weeknights 5 or 5:30. It does, however, air the market's only local broadcast weeknights at 7. It provides all weather forecasts for WVNS-TV and simulcasts weekend newscasts on that channel as well as WBOY-TV and WTRF-TV. http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=WOWK-TV&action=edit&section=4 edit News team '''Anchors *Martina Bills - weekday mornings and reporter *Jack Kane - weekday mornings and noon **reporter *Sandra Cole - weeknights *Kristen Sell - weekends StormTracker 13 Meteorologists *Spencer Adkins (Certified Broadcast Meteorologist and NWA Seal of Approval) - Chief seen weeknights *Ari Sarsalari - weekday mornings and noon *Jared Hoffman (AMS Seal of Approval) - weekends *Bryan Shaw - fill-in Sports *Scott Grayson - Director seen weeknights *Mike Anthony - weekends *Jaime Baker - reporter Reporters *Bray Cary - West Virginia Media Holdings President and Chief Executive Officer **''Decision Makers'' host *April Kaull - West Virginia Media Holdings News Director and State Correspondent *Dan Matics *Randy McKinney - Chief Photographer *Elbert Mosley - Senior Photojournalist **"Wacky Science Wednesdays" and "Cooking Thursdays" segments producer *Crissy Clutter - fill-in news anchor *Kelly Brennan - weekend producer *Sarah Lieu - consumer *Kenney Barnette - photographer *Anthony Lewis - photojournalist *Ben Moore - photojournalist *Adrian Mosby - photojournalist *Nicky Walters *Matthew Earle *Gil McClanahan Station slogans *''We're the One To Turn To'' (late 1970s) *''Share the Spirit of West Virginia'' (1986-1987; localized version of CBS ad campaign) *''13 Believes in You'' (early 1990s-1997) *''Live. Local. Latebreaking.'' (1997-2003) *''Your Town, Your State, Your Future'' (2003-2008) *''Live and Local from Your Hometown'' (2008-present) http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=WOWK-TV&action=edit&section=5 edit References #'^' CDBS Print #'^' "WSAZ-TV and WOWK-TV Possible Agreement Issue For 2009". Inter Mountain Cable. 2008-12-03. http://www.imctv.com/news_viewNews.php?news_id=40. Retrieved 2009-01-15. #^ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WOWK-TV#cite_ref-Farley_2-0 a''] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WOWK-TV#cite_ref-Farley_2-1 ''b] Farley, William (2009-01-14). "Neon council upset by threat of TV changes". The Mountain Eagle. pp. 2. http://www.themountaineagle.com/news/2009/0114/news/004.html. Retrieved 2009-01-15. http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=WOWK-TV&action=edit&section=6 edit External links *WOWK-TV channel 13 *WOWK-TV mobile *Query the FCC's TV station database for WOWK-TV